now president assad has put it in writing in the wake of the killing of a pro-government cleric in that mosque attack. mr. assad released a statement, essentially addressing his long-time supporter. the cleric saying, quote: i swear to the syrian people that your blood and that of your grandson and all the march tars of the homeland will not be spilled in vain because we will be faithful to your ideas by destroying their extremism and ignorance until we have cleanse the country. that will send shivers through anyone who remembers the ethnic cleansing of the bosnian war. >> shepard: the blame game they are at that again. >> president assad blaming the rebels for this attack on the mosque. the rebels saying not so. they wouldn't do that they would never hit a mosque. now, frankly, on this occasion, there is a more compelling case for saying that the rebels were behind. this simply because the cleric was such a stead fast supporter of assad that it would not seem to make sense for pro-government forces to kill that particular cleric. and officials at the state department would not speculat